Canadian star Milos Raonic cracks the Top 20 – Tennis Special
Canadian number one, Milos Raonic, climbed to his career high ranked at 19 in the South African Airways ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour Rankings after securing a quarter-final berth at his home tournament in
Toronto.
The home favourite, Raonic had a golden chance of winning the Rogers Cup, a Masters 1000 event taking place on hard courts. The big tennis stars Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were not competing. However, the Canadian squandered
his chance of stealing the limelight and exited to the out-of-form John Isner in the quarters.
He entered the Rexall Centre in high spirits and stomped over the Serbian contestant, Viktor Troicki in straight sets in 69 minutes. He required a single break of serve in each set and held his entire serves without encountering
any real challenge, ultimately sealing the deal with a 6-3, 6-4 score line.
The booming Canadian, who entered the Rogers Cup standing at world number 24, set up a battle against second seeded Any Murray. The Scot was coming off conquering the London Olympics (defeating top seeded Roger Federer in the final
showdown at Wimbledon). However, the Canadian got lucky as the British number one pulled out from the tournament due to a knee injury. As a result, Raonic automatically booking a final eight spot at this Emirates Airline US Open series event taking place in
Toronto.
The 21-year-old gave best wishes to Murray and stated:
“[I] just wished him that he gets healthy quick, because he's been playing really well lately. It's my first quarter-final in a Masters [1000], and to be at home is pretty special. I guess there is a give and take with it.”
In his first quarter-final appearance at a Masters 1000 event, Raonic entered the Rexall Centre in high spirits. He dragged the first set to a tie-breaker but was underplayed in it, eventually enduring a 6-7(9) loss. The Canadian
struck eight aces but lost his edge after spilling four double faults and 17 unforced errors.
In the following set, Raonic failed to keep up with the American number one, ultimately suffering a 4-6 defeat.
On the whole, the Canadian fired 13 aces and clobbered an equal first serve share of 68 per cent. He also cashed in the lone break chance but it was not enough to take the American down.
“It’s disappointing in a lot of ways,” the poor Canadian stated after exiting from the tournament. “I just didn’t execute. I just didn’t do a lot of things that well. I just competed and tried my best and tried to make the most
of the way I was playing. It just wasn’t good enough.”
Despite a quarter-final exit, the Thornhill resident jumped five spaces at the ATP World Tour Rankings and cracked the Top 20.
Raonic is currently enjoying his career best season as he conquered the Aircel Chennai Open in Indian and successfully defended his title at the SAP Open in San Jose. He also made a final showdown at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships
in Memphis (lost to Austria’s Jurgen Melzer).
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